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What is driver.js?

nilbuild/driver.js — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-21

★ 25,611TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

In one sentence

A dependency-free 5KB JavaScript library that creates spotlight overlays to highlight page elements, used for product tours, onboarding guides, contextual help, and focus overlays.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((driver.js))
    What it does
      Spotlight overlay
      Element highlighting
      Popover tooltips
      Dim background effect
    Tech stack
      TypeScript
      No dependencies
      5KB compressed
    Use cases
      Product tours
      Onboarding guides
      Contextual help
      Focus overlays
    Audience
      Frontend developers
      Product builders
    Features
      Keyboard controllable
      All major browsers
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Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Build a step-by-step product tour that walks new users through your app by highlighting each feature with a popover explanation.

USE CASE 2

Highlight a specific form field with a dimmed background to focus user attention while they complete an action.

USE CASE 3

Create contextual help overlays that spotlight a UI element when a user clicks a help icon.

What is it built with?

TypeScriptJavaScript

How does it compare?

nilbuild/driver.jswg-easy/wg-easyhcengineering/platform
Stars25,61125,62525,551
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity2/53/54/5
Audiencedeveloperops devopsdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
MIT licensed, use freely for any purpose including commercial projects with no restrictions.

So what is it?

Driver.js is a small JavaScript library that draws attention to specific elements on a web page, highlighting them with a spotlight effect and dimming everything else around them. The most common use is building product tours: step-by-step guides that walk new users through an application's features by pointing out each part of the interface in sequence, with an explanation shown in a popover (a small tooltip-like bubble). But tours are just one use case. The library can also highlight a single element to draw a user's focus while they interact with something else, show contextual help with a dimmed background while a user fills out a form, create modal-style overlays, or simulate a "Turn off the Lights" effect like those on video players. All of these share the same underlying mechanism: a configurable overlay that isolates part of the page visually. Driver.js is written in TypeScript, has no external dependencies, and weighs about 5 kilobytes compressed, making it one of the lightest options in this category. It is keyboard-controllable and works across all major browsers. You would use it when building a web application where you need to onboard new users, explain features contextually, or direct attention to a specific part of the interface. It is available as an npm package and is MIT licensed.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to add a product tour to my web app using Driver.js. Show me how to set up a multi-step tour that highlights the navbar, sidebar, and a save button in sequence.
Prompt 2
How do I configure Driver.js to show a popover with a custom title and description text when highlighting an element?
Prompt 3
I am using Driver.js and want the tour to only advance when the user clicks a specific button, not the built-in Next button. How do I control tour progression programmatically?
Prompt 4
How do I trigger a Driver.js tour automatically only for first-time visitors by checking a localStorage flag?

Frequently asked questions

What is driver.js?

A dependency-free 5KB JavaScript library that creates spotlight overlays to highlight page elements, used for product tours, onboarding guides, contextual help, and focus overlays.

What language is driver.js written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, JavaScript.

What license does driver.js use?

MIT licensed, use freely for any purpose including commercial projects with no restrictions.

How hard is driver.js to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is driver.js for?

Mainly developer.

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